BlackRock Emerging Europe Plc - Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK EMERGING EUROPE PLC (LEI - 549300OGTQA24Y3KMI14)

All information is at 30 April 2018 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

   

		One	Three		One				Three	Five			*Since
		Month	Months		Year				Years	Years			30.04.09
	Sterling:
	Share price	-1.6	-10.7		8.3				50.9	37.7			141.3
	Net asset value	-1.8	-8.7		5.0				40.9	26.9			128.3
	MSCI EM Europe	-2.4	-8.4		3.9				23.0	-1.5			72.1
	10/40(NR)
	US Dollars:
	Share price	-3.4	-13.5		15.3				35.2	21.9			124.3
	Net asset value	-3.6	-11.6		11.7				26.2	12.3			112.2
	MSCI EM Europe	-4.1	-11.2		10.6				10.2	-12.8			60.0
	10/40(NR)
	Sources: BlackRock, Standard & Poor’s Micropal
	*BlackRock took over the investment management of the Company with effect from 1 May 2009
	At month end
	US Dollar:
	Net asset value – capital only:							492.05c
	Net asset value* – cum income:							507.78c
	Sterling:
	Net asset value – capital only:							357.23p
	Net asset value* – cum income:							368.65p
	Share price:							345.00p
	Total assets^:							£132.4m
	Discount (share price to cum income NAV):							6.4%
	Net gearing at month end:							8.5%
	Net yield^^^^:							3.1%
	Gearing range as a % of Net assets:							0-20%
	Issued Capital – Ordinary Shares^^							35,916,028
	Ongoing charges^^^							1.1%
	* Includes year to date net revenue equal to 11.42 pence per share.
	^ Total assets include current year revenue.
	^^ Excluding 5,000,000 shares held in treasury.
	^^^ Calculated as at 31 January 2018, in accordance with AIC guidelines.
	^^^^ Yield calculations are based on dividends announced in the last 12 months as at the date of release of this announcement, and comprise of the final dividend of 15.00 cents per share, (announced on 23 March 2018, ex-dividend on 17 May 2018)
Sector Analysis			Gross assets (%)				Country Analysis					Gross assets        (%)
Financials			39.5				Russia					54.0
Energy			26.4				Poland					16.5
Consumer Staples			10.7				Turkey					13.9
Telecommunication Services			10.3				Greece					6.9
Health Care			4.9				Ukraine					3.5
Materials			3.6				Hungary					3.4
Information Technology			2.9				Pan-Emerging Europe					1.8
Consumer Discretionary			1.7				Net Current Liabilities					(0.0)
Net Current Liabilities			(0.0)									-----
			-----									100.0
			100.0									=====
			=====
Short position			(1.5)									(1.5)
	Fifteen Largest Investments (in % order of Gross Assets as at 30.04.18)
Company				Region of Risk							Gross assets
											(%)
Sberbank				Russia							10.4
Lukoil				Russia							9.6
Gazprom				Russia							7.5
PKO Bank Polski				Poland							5.8
Rosneft Oil Company				Russia							4.9
Novatek				Russia							4.5
Alior Bank				Poland							4.0
Lenta				Russia							3.8
PZU				Poland							3.7
National Bank of Greece				Greece							3.6
Mobile Telesystems				Russia							3.5
Turkcell				Turkey							3.4
Gedeon Richter				Hungary							3.4
Alpha Bank				Greece							3.3
Bank Pekao				Poland							3.0
	Commenting on the markets, Sam Vecht and Christopher Colunga, representing the Investment Manager noted;
	Market Commentary
	Market & Portfolio Performance The MSCI Emerging Europe 10/40 Index fell by 4.1% in April 2018 (in US Dollar terms), following developments in Turkey and Russia. The Company outperformed the index over the period, with the NAV falling by 3.6% in US Dollar terms. Markets in Turkey fell in April as the Turkish currency continued to weaken reflecting increasingly challenging economic conditions. Politics also remain an overhang with President Erdogan calling for an early presidential election, which came as a surprise to the market. Russian markets sold off as Russia faced new US sanctions targeting seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, 17 senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank. US sanctions primarily targeted Russia’s commodities sector. On the other hand, markets in Greece saw strong performance in April as the Greek banks successfully passed the European Central Bank (ECB) stress test without having to raise fresh capital. The portfolio’s outperformance in April is predominantly attributed to the overweight to Greek financials and the short position in Turkey. We funded additional positions in names such as a Sberbank and natural gas producer Novatek by taking partial profit in one of our strong performing Central European exposures Erste Bank.
	23 May 2018
	ENDS
	Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/beep on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal). Neither the contents of the Manager’s website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

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